“You did?”
“Harper, I know you. I also knew that trying to get you to stay that night would have never worked, especially because I wasn’t being honest with you.”
Harper looks confused. I hope I say this next part right and don’t drive her further away. “I never told you how I feel about you. I put all these heavy things on you right after this amazing experience, but I didn’t tell you how much you mean to me. How much you’ve always meant to me. That was so unfair.”
“It was a lot for both of us that night,” she says, giving me an out.
“Yes, that night changed a lot of things, but I should have told you before anything physical happened between us that I’m so crazy in love with you. That I’ve always been in love with you.”
I expect Harper to freak out or get up to run away again, but my amazing woman shocks me when her whole face lights up. “I love you too, Miles. So much.”
I lean forward to kiss her, but she stops me with her hands on my shoulders and pushes me back.
“I need to say this. I talked to your mom today.”
“Oh no.”
“I promise it was exactly what I needed. You are so lucky to have her and the family you have. I ran because you are my family. Of course, I have my squad and I couldn’t get through things without those girls, but without you I wouldn’t be able to breathe. It scared me that we may have messed all of that up with sex, but I was also upset that I may have experienced something so perfect only to never feel it again.”
“You are never getting rid of me, sweetheart. I’m yours forever. You are my best friend and now my lover. I will love you until my last breath.” I can’t believe that after all these years, this breathtaking woman is going to be mine in every way.
“Hey, Miles?”
“Yes?”
“You can kiss?—”
I don’t even let her finish the sentence before my lips are on hers. I pull her across the couch and into my lap. This is where we belong. Together.
My hands run through her hair as I devour her mouth. I never want to stop kissing her, but Harper seems to have another idea. She begins running her hands down my shirt to the hem and slides it up until I have to pull away from her delicious mouth to draw it over my head.
I lift her up off the couch and start toward the bedroom, leaving a trail of her clothes and mine in our wake. By the time we make it to the bed, we are both naked and impatient to feel each other.
“I need you inside me, Miles,” Harper begs.
“What if I want to take my time and taste every inch of your gorgeous body?”
“You can do that later. We have all the time in the world. Right now I want you to put that big, fat cock inside me,” she says as she grabs my member and runs it along her wet slit.
“Yes, ma’am.”
We both moan as I enter her. It’s like coming home. Harper runs her nails up and down my back, letting me know I’m hitting all the right spots.
“I’m gonna come,” she whispers as her walls tighten around my dick.
“Come for me, sweetheart.”
Within seconds, she does, and I follow right after her. I tumble to the bed and pull her across my chest, holding her tight.
“Not going to let go of me this time,” she jokes.
“If you feel the need to run, please just talk to me so I can run with you. I love you and nothing will ever change that.”
“I’m not running, Miles. I know you are where I’m supposed to be. I love you.”
We lay tangled in each other and I watch as she falls asleep. If she’s slept like me the last few days, she has to be exhausted. Her face looks so peaceful and finally, with her in my arms like this, I know that everything is the way it was always meant to be.
Chapter 17